The cotton fields in rural Emanuel County seemed endless. The temperature seemed unbearably hot. Seemed as though there was no way to escape the grueling job of picking cotton from sunup until sundown. Being born to loving parents, Charlie and Lula Greene, did not shelter me from the cotton fields in rural Emanuel County. In fact, as their oldest child, much more work was expected of me. My role was to set an example for my siblings. An example of hard work and determination that would lead to a life of unlimited opportunity and success. In my mind, though, life on the farm and the cotton fields offered a bleak future and little opportunity, except to dream of better days to come. My dreams were enormous. Under the blistering sun of the cotton fields, I dreamed of things, places, and opportunities that were far removed from my reach. To my parents' credit, they did not dash my dreams. Perhaps they were their dreams too.
The Greene family's roots are deep in the rural soil of Emanuel County, Georgia. My grandfather, Winder Greene, was an unusual man. He owned land in an era when most African-Americans did not own land. That is, most African-Americans were sharecroppers. Grandpa not only owned land but, according to older relatives, he was also rather radical and independent. So forceful was Grandpa that he held off the Ku Klux Klan by himself with guns and gunpowder bombs when they came to his home to terrorize his family. My parents moved in with Grandpa when he became too ill to take care of himself, and they lived with Grandpa until he died. My father's mother, Carrie Hagen Greene, died when my father was twelve years old, and Grandpa remained unmarried. Grandpa kept me during the day while my parents worked in the fields. He read newspapers to me and I would tear the papers into bits and pieces. My relatives said that Grandpa had a special love for me and allowed me to do things that others dared not do.
Upon Grandpa's death, his property was divided among his seven children. He gave the house to my parents, along with the surrounding land. Although property lines were drawn to separate the parcels of land, the Greene family worked cooperatively together without regard for the legal lines of division. This spirit of family unity had a compelling influence on me as I grew up watching my parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins sharing and working together as one family.
During this era in rural Emanuel County, there were no public schools for African-Americans who lived some distance from the school in the city of Swainsboro, Georgia. My family lived twenty miles from the city of Swainsboro, and there weren't any buses to transport the students to the city. In response to the situation that they found themselves in, the Greene family erected a family school to educate their children. Another large black family in the area, the Cross family, built a school for their children as well. These schools were modest at best. Importantly though, these families' sacrifices spoke volumes about the importance of education. They wanted their future generations to enjoy opportunities that had been denied them.
